Читать книгу Poems Teachers Ask For, Book Two - Various - Страница 39

Hush! my dear, lie still and slumber,

Holy angels guard thy bed!

Heavenly blessings without number

Gently falling on thy head.

Sleep, my babe; thy food and raiment,

House and home, thy friends provide;

All without thy care or payment:

All thy wants are well supplied.

How much better thou'rt attended

Than the Son of God could be,

When from heaven He descended

And became a child like thee!

Soft and easy is thy cradle:

Coarse and hard thy Saviour lay,

When His birthplace was a stable

And His softest bed was hay.

Blessed babe! what glorious features—

Spotless fair, divinely bright!

Must He dwell with brutal creatures?

How could angels bear the sight?

Was there nothing but a manger

Cursed sinners could afford

To receive the heavenly stranger?

Did they thus affront their Lord?

Soft, my child: I did not chide thee,

Though my song might sound too hard;

'Tis thy mother sits beside thee,

And her arm shall be thy guard.

See the kinder shepherds round Him,

Telling wonders from the sky!

Where they sought Him, there they found Him,

With His Virgin mother by.

See the lovely babe a-dressing;

Lovely infant, how He smiled!

When He wept, His mother's blessing

Soothed and hush'd the holy Child,

Lo, He slumbers in a manger,

Where the hornèd oxen fed:—

Peace, my darling, here's no danger;

There's no ox anear thy bed.

May'st thou live to know and fear Him,

Trust and love Him all thy days;

Then go dwell forever near Him,

See His face, and sing His praise!